The Big Ten announced Wednesday its 2013 men’s soccer preseason coaches’ poll and players to watch list, with defending national champion Indiana earning top honors among the seven conference teams. The Hoosiers, who are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA preseason top 25 poll, became the first-ever No. 16 seed to win the national title last season. Reigning Big Ten Tournament Champion Michigan State checked in at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Northwestern, No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Penn State. The Wildcats and Nittany Lions shared the Big Ten title in 2012. BIG TEN MEN’S SOCCER PRESEASON COACHES’

The Big Ten men’s soccer tournament continues today in Evanston, Ill., with two semifinal matchups set for this afternoon. Penn State fell to Michigan State 3-1 in the first semifinal. The second semifinal, Michigan dropped Northwestern 3-0. Get more details at the 2012 Tournament Central page at NUsports.com. Michigan State continued its improbable march to a championship game on Friday. Adam Montague and Cody Henderson each recorded both a goal and an assist on the day, leading the Spartans offensive attack to its second three-goal game of the season. Read more at MSUSpartans.com. Michigan marched on to the finals of the

The top-ranked Penn State women’s volleyball team (21-1, 11-0 Big Ten) earned a 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-15) win at Iowa Wednesday night. Junior Deja McClendon led all players with 11 kills and 12 digs. Read full recap at GoPSUSports.com. Watch highlights now and jump inside for Northwestern men’s soccer video coverage. After controlling the tempo for most of its scoreless contest against Northern Illinois Wednesday night at Lakeside Field, Northwestern was stunned by a goal from the visitors just 45 seconds into the first overtime period. On a dead sprint and fighting off Northwestern defenders, Charlie Oliver ripped a dipping

For the first time, BTN will provide full coverage of the Big Ten fall championships and tournaments, including live broadcasts during the 2012 Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament, Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Soccer Tournaments and delayed coverage of the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships. Coverage of the quarterfinals for men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey will be streamed live for the first time on the Big Ten Digital Network (BTDN). The semifinals and finals for each event will be available on both BTN and BTN2Go. The network will be in Bloomington, Ind., for the Big

The No. 7 Penn State field hockey team continued its hunt for the Big Ten Championship Friday afternoon, defeating No. 21 Ohio State 3-0 for the fourth conference win of the season. The Nittany Lions, now 13-3 overall with a 4-1 mark in the Big Ten, currently rest atop the Big Ten standings. Watch the highlights now and jump inside for more from around the conference including more field hockey, soccer, volleyball and women’s ice hockey. The No. 8 Northwestern field hockey team moved to 6-0 at home and 15-2 on the season as they defeated No. 20 Michigan Spartans

As we enter the second half of Big Ten play, a clear hierarchy has been established in the conference. At 3-0 and 2-0 respectively, perennial national power Indiana and defending Big Ten champion Northwestern are firmly in the apex of the Big Ten soccer pyramid. Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State are battling it out in the middle class with a win apiece, while Wisconsin and Ohio State are sitting in the base winless searching for answers. The Hoosiers took care of business last weekend at home against the hapless Badgers. Now, with the Hoosiers having the weekend off of

It’s halftime, if you will, so let’s review. It seems crazy, but we’re halfway through conference play already. So with that being said, I think it’s suitable to sit back and reflect on where each of our seven teams is at this point. See my first-half analysis for every Big Ten team in this post. INDIANA HOOSIERS At 9-2-1, and 3-0 in conference play, Todd Yeagley must be pleased with how the season has played out thus far. From a coaches standpoint, Yeagley will be more pleased that his side has yet to concede in the Big Ten. Eriq Zavaleta

No. 4 Penn State (12-2-0, 6-0-0) used three goals in a six-minute span to secure a 5-2 victory over Indiana on Sunday at Jeffrey Field. With the game tied at two, freshman Mallory Weber scored two goals in two minutes to put the Nittany Lions ahead for good. Read the full recap at GoPSUSports.com. Watch our interview with Kristin Hartmann, who announced her retirement, now, and jump inside for more of Sunday’s Olympic video coverage. Big Ten Student U talks with Penn State head coach, Erica Walsh after their 5-2 victory over Indiana on Sunday: The Buckeyes fell 2-1 against

Week 2 of Big Ten competition saw three hard-fought games that needed more than 90 minutes of play to be decided. It showed that there is not much separating each team in the conference and that many games are going to come down to one shot, one save, or one executed set piece. So, no matter the records, easy games are few and far between in the Big Ten with only two games having been decided by more than one goal so far. Having said that, through two weeks not much has changed in the overall picture of what was expected based on non-conference play.

With the Big Ten season set to kick off this weekend, it’s time to check out the upcoming match-ups and see who may be equipped to give their coach a Gatorade shower this fall. In four years of playing college soccer in the Big Ten at Northwestern and one year of observing it, you begin to notice trends as to why certain teams win the title in a given year. In my estimation, there are four key factors that usually determine the results each season: a stud goalkeeper who is ideally tall (See: Miller, Tyler), an organized and disciplined defense,